Cause of death released in Cotton case

The Humboldt County Coroner's Office said Thursday that the official cause of death in the Martin Cotton II case is a subdural hematoma due to blunt force trauma.

Coroner Frank Jager said there were two contributing factors in the death, LSD intoxication and Excited Delirium Syndrome.

Cotton died hours after being booked into the Humboldt County Jail on suspicion of randomly fighting people at the Rescue Mission in Old Town Aug. 9.

Several police responded and fought with Cotton while trying to detain and arrest him.

Jager said the manner of death could not be determined but offered four scenarios: Cotton received the injury from fighting with people at the Rescue Mission, he received it during the struggle with police, or it was self-inflicted blunt force trauma after he was booked into the jail. The fourth and least likely, according to Jager, is that he already had the injury before arriving in Old Town.

The Critical Incident Response Team investigating the death is continuing its investigation and may not be able to submit its report to the District Attorney's Office for more than a week because one of the investigators is out of town. The Times-Standard

It's going to take them a WHOLE WEEK? Why not hold out for 520 days.

More: ER Cotton died from head injury